Du Li wins first gold

China pocketed the first gold medal of the ISSF World Cup and Rio Olympic shooting test event here, as Du Li claimed the victory in the final of women’s 10 metres air rifle.

The 34-year-old on Saturday fought for the gold medal with Russia’s Daria Vdovina and Germany’s Selina Gschwandtner, who both took the lead of the match along its first half. After the sixth series of final shots, Du distanced herself from her rivals, finishing with 208.3 points, reports Xinhua.

Vdovina, 26, closed with 208.0 points, and Gschwandtner, 21, with 186.8.

Besides Vdovina and Gschwandtner, Du also battled with two of closest friend and teammates, Yi Siling, who finished sixth with 123.3 points, and Zhang Binbin, who led the qualification round but finished seventh with 101.9 points. Du came back to shooting competition in January 2015 after two years’ temporary retirement.

“(The Olympic test event) is only my second finals at international competition, I felt a bit nervous,” said the two-time Olympic gold medal winner.